Flood in Uintah County, Utah

Heavy runoff from record snowpack kept rivers and creeks across Unitah County running at elevated to over bankfull conditions through much of June.

The Green River exceeded flood stage on June 1st at the Jensen river gage, briefly fell below this mark between the 2nd and the 3rd, and then returned to at least a minor flood stage through the end of the month. At it's peak, the Green River at Jensen rose to a moderate flood stage level from June 9th through June 20th. During these high flows, low land flooding was reported with some damage to irrigation equipment along the river banks. Oil and gas drilling had to be halted along the river due to the impact of the high water levels. Utah Highway 88 and Chipeta Grove Road was closed for over 2 weeks near Ouray. Up to a foot of water over Highway 88 was reported with 3 to 5 feet of water inundating Chipeta Creek Road. One residence near Ouray had to be evacuated due to encroaching flood water and another house had restricted access by the flood waters. One death was attributed to the increased flows when a kayak overturned and the kayaker could not be rescued.

As temperatures continued to climb so did area rivers draining from the Eastern Uinta Mountains. Areal advisories and warnings were issued for much of the month of June for the Duchesne, White, White Rocks and Uinta rivers. These statements also covered may local creeks and streams that were out of their banks. The largest impact was to agricultural interests near these waterways with lowland pasture, farmland and isolated structures becoming inundated with water. Livestock and equipment had to be moved away from the flooded areas. A drinking water line that supplies areas of Unitah County had to be repaired from high water damage along the Duchesne River. Several mitigation projects needed to be done along the Uinta and White Rocks rivers and water crossed many secondary roads along the Unita River.

Rapidly warming temperatures increased the runoff from a record snowpack over the Northeastern Utah mountains. This resulted in an extended period of high flows along many area waterways.